The Commission has already received and granted one waiver for tornado relief. Waivers may be granted for specific fundraising programs, or for “limited station appeals which generally do not exceed several days.”

Last year the FCC proposed letting non-comms dedicate up to 88 hours a year without having to request a waiver. In comments submitted to this proceeding organizations like National Public Radio and the University Station Alliance urged the Commission not to lift the ban, arguing that it might jeopardize listener relationships or cause stations to be deluged with airtime requests from charities. Religious broadcasters, on the other hand, were more supportive of the idea.

Radio stations that want to request a waiver should email Peter Doyle
(peter.doyle@fcc.gov) and Michael Wagner (michael.wagner@fcc.gov) and provide the details of the fundraising activity, including:

a. the nature of the fundraising effort;

b. the proposed duration of the fundraising effort;

c. the organization(s) to which funds will be donated; and

d. whether the fundraiser will be part of the licensee’s regularly scheduled
pledge drive or fundraising effort.

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About Paul Riismandel

Paul Riismandel is co-founder and operations director of Radio Survivor. He is also the podcasting evangelist for Midroll Media, serving as producer for The Wolf Den podcast. Paul has more than 20 years of experience in non-commercial radio and instructional media. He is a contributing editor for Streaming Media Magazine, covering the education beat.